As small and light as the average cell phone has become, the dimension of thickness has become an important characteristic for consumers. Thinner devices can be more conveniently pocketed, and can be slid into purses and backpacks with no difficulty. The average phone thickness has dropped by 50% in the last decade alone, and considerations such as durability and hand feel would indicate that the industry has arrived at about the ideal thickness just within the past few years.
Nonetheless, as cellular phones continue to displace more traditional devices for productivity and entertainment, the number of features and functions demanded by users has grown enormously. As an example, even the television has been somewhat displaced by the cellular phone. Fully 75% of juveniles watch short content on a portable device, and 50% of them even watch full-length programming on their devices. The latter figure represents an increase of almost 25% in just one year.
With functions like video entertainment, audio entertainment, photography, scheduling and gaming migrating to the mobile platform, it has become increasingly difficult for manufacturers to keep the weight, size and thickness of cellular devices within the ideal limits arrived at in the last decade.
While the present disclosure is directed to a system that can eliminate certain shortcomings noted above, it should be appreciated that such a benefit is neither a limitation on the scope of the disclosed principles nor of the attached claims, except to the extent expressly noted in the claims. Additionally, the discussion of technology in this Background section is reflective of the inventors' own observations, considerations, and thoughts, and is in no way intended to accurately catalog or comprehensively summarize the art in the public domain. As such, the inventors expressly disclaim this section as admitted or assumed prior art with respect to the discussed details. Moreover, the identification herein of a desirable course of action reflects the inventors' own observations and ideas, and should not be assumed to indicate an art-recognized desirability.